What Does the Community Think About the New Trend of Venture Studios?

October 23, 2024

by a searcher from Maastricht University - School of Business and Economics in Fribourg, Switzerland

I’ve been seeing a lot of buzz lately around venture studios and how they’re emerging as a powerful model for building startups. For those unfamiliar, a venture studio typically incubates and launches multiple startups internally, providing funding, resources, and strategic direction, often with a team of shared talent across different ventures.

It’s a fascinating approach, especially compared to traditional startup incubators or accelerators. What stands out to me is the level of control and involvement that the venture studio has in shaping these companies from day one. This model seems to offer founders more support and infrastructure while also mitigating some risks for investors, as they’re not betting on just one company but on a portfolio of ventures created within the studio.

But here’s what I’m curious about: What does everyone here think about this trend? Is it just a passing fad, or do you see it becoming a dominant force in the entrepreneurial ecosystem? Are there specific advantages or disadvantages you’ve noticed compared to other models like incubators or VC funding? Would love to hear your thoughts, especially from those who have experience working in or with a venture studio.

Reply by a professional
from Bentley College in Miami, FL, USA

Venture studios have been around for a very long time. I am not sure I would classify them as a fad. I'm not an expert in this space but I do think that the rise of low-code and no-code platforms has made a lot of these studios less valuable. The old thinking was that an entrepreneur had an idea but no resources. He would bring that idea to the venture studio and they would provide the tech and marketing talent to get the idea off the ground for a large piece of equity. Tech has become pretty commoditized. For $5k to $10k you can hire someone to literally build whatever you want. That decreases the value of going to a venture studio and giving them a bunch of equity. Just my opinion. Not an expert on any of this.

Reply by a searcher
from University of Mysore in Seattle, WA, USA

Thanks ^redacted‌ - Enno I used to run Microsoft Ventures before. The new "Venture Studios" are a little different from the "accelerators" of###-###-#### , but largely a design of -1) lot more early stage entrepreneurs in non-tech fields, 2) lot less money to build, 3) more hands on work needed with younger founders. Its good, but I don't see "Venture" scale companies from these.

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